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Score: Score0Hands: Hands1/5Wins / Losses: 0–0

You against Shelly, Hops and Pip. Which Batak, and how many hands?

Level 1
Auction Batak · Hand 1 of 5

Bid how many tricks you'll take, or pass. The highest bidder names trumps and leads. Follow suit and beat the card on the table if you can; with none of the suit you must trump. Miss your bid and you lose it!

Batak game cover

Batak

Cards · Win the auction, name trumps and take your tricks.

Play Batak free online, the favourite Turkish trick-taking card game, against Hops the frog and his pond friends Shelly and Pip. Win the auction, name trumps and take at least as many tricks as you bid, or you go down and lose your bid. Play Auction Batak (İhaleli Batak, every player for themselves) or Partners Batak (Eşli Batak) with Hops, choose Easy, Medium or Hard, try the Daily deal, or play Batak online with up to three friends. If you know Spades or Whist, you'll feel at home.

How to play

  1. Everyone gets 13 cards. Play goes round to the right (counter-clockwise), as in Turkey, and the player right of the dealer speaks first.
  2. The auction: bid how many tricks you'll take, higher than the last bid, or pass. Bids start at 4 (7 in Partners Batak) and go up to 13. Once you pass you're out; if everyone else passes, the dealer must take it at 4.
  3. The highest bidder names the trump suit and leads the first trick. Trumps can't be led until one has been played, unless you hold nothing but trumps.
  4. Follow the suit that was led, and play higher than the highest card of that suit on the table if you can. With none of that suit you must trump, over-trumping if you can. With neither, play any card.
  5. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led. Each trick is 1 point. The bidder who takes at least the bid scores every trick taken; one who falls short goes down and loses the bid. Everyone else scores their tricks.
  6. A game is 3, 5 or 10 hands (5 to start). The highest total wins; a tie at the top plays one more hand.

Tips to win

  • Count tricks with your best suit as trumps: Aces, Kings with an Ace beside them, the top trumps, and one more for every trump beyond five. Bid only what you can count.
  • Winning the bid is worth a lot: you choose trumps and lead. But a lost contract costs the whole bid, so with a middling hand let someone else take it and collect your tricks.
  • As the bidder, pull trumps early: once trumps are broken, lead your top trumps until the others have none left. Then your Aces and long suit are safe.
  • Use the must-raise rule: lead a small card and everyone after you who has the suit has to go higher, so their Kings and Queens fall early.
  • Watch who can't go higher. A player who follows with a small card has shown they have nothing bigger in that suit.
  • Short in a side suit? Once it's gone you have to trump it, which turns small trumps into tricks.
  • Learning? Press Teach me: Hops suggests a bid, the trump suit or the card to play and says why in one line. Coached games are practice, so they don't count as wins.
  • Switch on the Classic look for a green felt table and white cards.

Guides

Questions

How do you play Batak?

Four players get 13 cards each and bid how many tricks they'll take. The highest bidder names trumps and leads. You must follow suit and beat the card on the table if you can, and trump when you're out of a suit. The bidder scores the tricks taken if the bid is made and loses the bid if not; the others score their tricks.

What is İhaleli Batak?

İhaleli Batak is auction Batak, the most popular way to play in Turkey: players bid for the right to name trumps, and every player plays for themselves. On GameLake bids start at 4, the common online minimum.

What does batmak mean in Batak?

A bidder who takes fewer tricks than the bid "batar": goes down. The bid is taken off their score, so a failed bid of 6 costs 6 points.

Do you have to play a higher card in Batak?

Yes. If you have the suit that was led, you must play higher than the highest card of that suit on the table when you can. If you're out of the suit you must trump, and play a higher trump than one already on the trick if you can.

When can you lead trumps?

Only once a trump has been played on an earlier trick (trumps are broken), or when you hold nothing but trumps.

What is Eşli Batak?

Partners Batak: you and Hops, sitting across from each other, against Shelly and Pip. Your tricks count together, for the contract too, and bids start at 7.

Can I play Batak online with friends?

Yes. Choose Online, then Play a friend, pick 2, 3 or 4 players and send the link. Hops' pond friends fill any empty seats, and the table checks every bid and card. Quick match finds you another player.

What is the Daily deal?

Everyone gets the same deal each day for one hand of Auction Batak. Par is what Hops scores playing your seat; score at least that much to beat it.